We recently received an item that is part of an interesting story with a connection to an important alum.  The item is a zither -- yes, a zither.  It's a complex musical instrument that was quite familiar a hundred years ago.  This was the first time I had seen one outside of a museum.  The zither was donated by an RPI alum who grew up in Troy.  Here is his story:

On October 8, 1952, ten thousand people gathered to hear Dwight D.

Image Coming into Troy via Route 7 east down that long slope, one's eyes inevitably scan to the opposite hill where the RPI campus is situated.  The Low Ce

I have two different views of this prof for you to consider and therefore two photos that need to be filed in the right place. The computer in the first view may help place him in time. I was curious about the sign below the prof in the computer picture so I enlarged it and it reads: IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF YOU OBVIOUSLY ARE INCAPABLE OF USING THIS COMPUTER SO GET OFF IT! (OR LEARN TO LEAVE A CLEAN WORKSPACE BEHIND)

This photo really intrigues me! In all of my RPI history travels, which includes extensive research for exhibits on student clubs and student traditions, I haven't found an explanation for this image. I hope I stumble across something someday that will help me identify this curiously dressed group of men! I'm dying to know what they were up to. Was this an early LARP club?!

Finals week is coming to an end, and from my vantage point (limited as it may be), it has been very quiet on campus this week. It definitely feels like the semester is winding down. On the job, I often live in the past ;) and today I wondered how very different it must have been here 38 years ago this week in May.

Every month or so, I select an image to feature on our home page, and today I chose a picture of the 1948 lacrosse team. The fun fact about this team is that they represented the United States in a demonstration game against England in the 1948 Summer Olympics. So the match was essentially RPI vs. England.

Grand Marshal Week is just ahead and the campus is covered in campaign signs. This past week, while looking through a scrapbook compiled by Dwinel French Thompson, I found a few news clippings regarding GM week during the 1870s.

Every RPI student and alum has invariably heard the term "'Tute Screw" often used metaphorically and also embodied as an actual object. No one knows who coined the term or how long it has been in use, but the object itself has a documented origin. In the Fall of 1949, Sigma Phi Epsilon awarded the first 'Tute Screw in a ceremony on the '87 Field. Three hooded fraternity brothers known as "The Order of the Royal Screw" presented the "trophy" to the freshmen class.

Who is this corn cob pipe-smoking, bow tie-wearing professor at the typewriter?